


Independence Day

by EaglePursuit



Series: Another Summer's Sunny Days [10]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Crystal - Freeform, Dipcifica, F/M, Gradual Dipcifica, Post-Gravity Falls, Returning to Gravity Falls, Short, Teenage Dipper Pines, Teenage Dipper Pines and Mabel Pines, Teenage Mabel Pines, Teenage Pacifica Northwest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25037134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EaglePursuit/pseuds/EaglePursuit
Summary: Part 10 of the Another Summer's Sunny Days series. It's the Fourth of July and a surprise visitor from Piedmont arrives at the Mystery Shack for the holiday weekend
Relationships: Dipper Pines/Original Female Character(s), Pacifica Northwest/Dipper Pines
Series: Another Summer's Sunny Days [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792519
Comments: 7
Kudos: 26





	Independence Day

**Author's Note:**

> Based on: Disney’s Gravity Falls  
> Created by: Alex Hirsch
> 
> Beta readers: my wife & PK2317  
> Art by: KID | @KIDWMA

Independence Day

Crystal McTaggart tapped the shoulder of the woman sitting next to her on the bus. “Excuse me, ma’am. Do you know how far we are from Gravity Falls?”

The woman turned to answer her, and Crystal flinched at her appearance. Her left eyelid was permanently drooped in a condition called ptosis, which was made all the more obvious by heavy application of eye shadow.

“Why, we’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” She favored Crystal with a warm, yet crooked smile. “The name’s Susan, by the way. Where do you come from, hon?”

“I’m from Piedmont, California,” Crystal replied, desperately trying to avoid eye contact. 

Susan nodded sympathetically. “That’s a long way for such a young one to travel by herself.”

“I’m going to surprise my boyfriend for the weekend.” Crystal took a deep breath and smiled.

“That’s nice.” Her one good eye deviated towards the window. “Oh, look! It’s Octavia.” She leaned into the aisle and shouted to the driver, “Hey, Kyle! Slow down would ya? It’s Octavia!”

The driver shifted down a gear and the bus slowed. Crystal turned to look out the window and saw a feral Holstein cow standing in a meadow with four extra, atrophied legs sticking out of its back. It shot out a frog-like prehensile tongue and captured a rabbit from a dozen yards away. Crystal watched aghast as the mutant bovine munched on its squirming prey and decided it was best to stare straight ahead.

“I like you, kid,” Susan said kindly. “Why don’t you and your boyfriend stop by Greasy’s for pancakes in the morning. It’ll be my treat.”

Crystal nodded in agreement while keeping her eyes locked onto the back of the seat in front of her.

* * *

The navigator on Crystal’s phone spontaneously failed at the edge of town, but she had no trouble finding her way thanks to a proliferation of ‘Mystery Shack This Way’ signs posted at frequent intervals along Gopher Road.

The slender, blonde fourteen year old wore a white tank top with PIEDMONT written across the front in pink block letters outlined in black, light blue capri pants, and comfortable, pink sneakers. She wore her shoulder-length curly hair in a half-up half-down style that she knew her boyfriend liked. She carried a gray duffle bag across her shoulders.

After walking a quarter mile she caught sight of the dilapidated, eclectic cottage covered with more signs that read things like ‘World Famous’, ‘Gift Shop’, and ‘No Refunds’ as well as a few that evidently had been put up for the holiday that read ‘Discount Fireworks Sale’, ‘Cheap’, and ‘Don’t Tell The Feds’. The gravel parking lot was bustling with minivans and SUVs sporting roof racks belonging to tourists vacationing on the extended weekend. She found her way around the building to the private residential entrance and knocked.

An elderly hispanic woman answered the door. “Hola. Are you selling cookies?”

“Um, no. Is this the Ramirez residence?” Crystal asked uncertainly.

Abuelita looked slightly disappointed. “Si, yes, it is.”

“Is, um...Mason Pines here?”

“Mister Pines. One moment, please.” Abuelita left her on the doorstep and shuffled back inside.

A few minutes later, a gruff, elderly man in a floral Hawaiian shirt and a fez came to the door. Crystal knew instantly from Dipper’s description that this was his great uncle, Stan. “Whaddya want? You sellin’ cookies?”

“Um, no. Is Mason here?” Crystal asked again. Why did they think she was selling cookies?

He scratched his head. “Who the heck is Mas—oh, you’re talkin’ about Dipper! Come on. I’ve got him out back, working the fireworks stand.” He led her around the corner of the Shack to the Mystery Shack’s backyard where Dipper was leaning a chair back with his feet up on a table with shoddy-looking, contraband fireworks laid out on display. A few customers were browsing the selection.

“Mason!” Crystal yelled excitedly, but he didn’t look over. She ran closer and yelled it again. This time he looked at her and his eyes popped wide. He tipped his chair completely over backwards. She ran up to him and hugged him on the ground. “Mason, you shouldn’t sit like that.” She gave him a kiss.

“Oh my gosh! Crystal! This is amazing! How did you get here?” Dipper hugged and kissed her back. He was wearing a blue and white hat that Crystal had never seen, but recognized from pictures Mabel had scattered around the Pines’ home in Piedmont.

“I wanted to surprise you!” She grinned in excitement. “My parents let me ride the bus up for the holiday weekend.”

Dipper beamed in delight. “You’re going to be here for four days? This is great! There’s so many people I want you to meet!”

“Crystal, is that you?” Mabel came around the corner of the Shack.

“Mabel, hi!” The two girls greeted each other with a perfunctory hug.

“How are you?”

“I’m a little tired from the bus ride, but it’s great to see Ma—Dipper again.” 

“It’s good to see you too.” Dipper looked pleased. He’d been lobbying her to come up to Gravity Falls and see it for herself since before he’d even rode the bus up himself. “Hey, you can stay in the attic with Mabel. I’ll sleep on the big chair in the living room.”

“Woooo, sleepover!” Mabel hooted.

“Come on! I’ll show you around the Shack and introduce you to everyone. I guess you met Grunkle Stan already.” Dipper took her duffle bag and slung it over his shoulder.

An old man with a crazed look in his eyes and a long, white beard stuck his head out the window. “Powderhorn widdershins prattle-spats!” 

Crystal recoiled in alarm, glancing at the twins for reassurance.

Mabel waved it off dismissively. “Oh, pfft. That’s Old Man McGucket. He kinda lives here now too. Let’s go inside. You’ve got to meet Grunkle Ford and Soos.”

“Am I the only one around here who cares about fleecin’ rubes?” Stan gestured towards the abandoned fireworks stand surrounded by customers. “Okay, yeah. Probably.”

* * *

“Man, it is so cool to finally meet you! Dipper told me so much about you.” Wendy smiled disarmingly as she sat with Crystal and Dipper in a booth in the Ice Cream Palace.

Crystal swallowed a spoonful of vanilla ice cream. She had resisted meeting Wendy, but Dipper insisted. She was relieved to find that the older girl quickly put her at ease with her affable charm. “Likewise. Mason told me a lot about you too.”

“Hold on! Mason!?” Wendy blurted out to Crystal’s surprise. “His real name is  _ Mason _ ? I thought it was, like, Herbert or something. Soos bet me twenty bucks it was Sherman, like his grandpa.”

Dipper didn’t respond. The expression on his face was somewhere between embarrassment and mortification. He looked like he was about to go limp and sink under the table.

“What’s so bad about ‘Mason’?” Crystal asked indignantly.

Wendy shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. It was just this whole big mystery. Everyone thought it must be something super-dorky or… you know, weird.”

“Well, I think it suits him just fine.”

“If you say so.” Wendy looked at Dipper, face red with embarrassment and diplomatically changed the subject. “Dude, did you tell her about the time we broke into the Dusk 2 Dawn?”

Dipper took a bite of his Chocolate Cherry Bomb cone for a moment to recover. “Of course. But Crystal thinks I exaggerate my stories.” He glanced over at her.

“I’m just a bit skeptical about the ghosts part,” Crystal gestured with her spoon. “Like, ghosts? Really? I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation for everything.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you had been at my dad’s cabin a few weeks ago,” Wendy smirked.

Crystal gave her boyfriend a ‘look’. “By the way, I wish you’d given me a chance to talk you out of that.”

“You haven’t managed to talk me out of anything else,” he challenged her playfully.

“I know,” she replied with irritation. “But it sounded dangerous. You were probably all hallucinating from a gas leak or something.”

“We had a fire in the fireplace. I think we would have noticed if the place blew up,” Dipper countered.

Crystal frowned. “Whatever. I’m sure there is some rational explanation for what you experienced, like infrasound or something. All these bigfoots, candy monsters, and magical unicorns make for fun stories, but they wouldn’t hold up to scientific examination.” 

“Maybe we should all hunt down a gremloblin tomorrow and see what you say about that.” Dipper grinned slyly. 

“Absolutely not!” she shot back.

“Anyway.” Dipper could tell from experience it was time to change the subject. “I want to take you out to a nice restaurant for dinner before we go watch fireworks. So we should probably head back and get changed.”

“Now that’s the Ma—Dipper I’m used to.” Crystal smiled. “No more weirdness, okay?”

* * *

Dipper and Crystal walked into the Mystery Shack and paused in front of the stairs. “By the way, did you see that one duck when we walked by the park?” Crystal asked as they stepped inside.

Dipper thought about it for a second. “There were a lot of ducks. Which one in particular?”

“I swear I saw one that had its bill on the front of its stomach instead of its head. I think I saw its organs when it quacked. It was so gross!” She stuck out her tongue in disgust and shuddered. 

“I told you there’s something weird about this town.”

She frowned at him. “It’s probably groundwater contamination from an old mine or something. Someone should call the EPA.”

“I think Grunkle Ford already accounted for pollutants in his journals,” Dipper mused, tapping his vest pocket absentmindedly. “Anyway, let’s get changed. Our reservation is at six.”

Dipper went into the living room to grab some clothes from his bag to change in the bathroom while Crystal went upstairs to the attic. He was trying to smooth some wrinkles out of the only pair of dress pants he brought from home when he heard Crystal yell, “What the heck!”

He ran upstairs and knocked on the door. She let him in. Mabel and Waddles entered right behind him. They looked at Crystal for an explanation.

“Someone threw all my stuff on the floor!” she said in exasperation, indicating a rumpled pile of clothing at the foot of Dipper’s bed.

Dipper immediately turned to the pig. “Waddles, did you do this?”

Waddles sniffed indifferently.

“Waddles was in the kitchen with me the whole time you were gone. We were painting our toenails,” Mabel retorted indignantly. She stuck out her bare foot for them to see. Mabel’s toenails and Waddle’s hooves were patriotically painted red, white, and blue.

“Besides, my clothes were in this closet with the door closed,” Crystal pointed out.

Mabel squinted at the closet suspiciously. “It was probably the invisible wizard.” 

“Ugh. More fairytales?” Crystal rolled her eyes in frustration.

“We have had trouble with this closet before.” Dipper poked around inside. “That’s why it’s empty. I never keep my clothes in there.”

“You never put your clothes in your closet at home either, Dip-dop!” Mabel teased.

Crystal bunched her fists on her hips angrily. “Mason, I can’t believe you’re entertaining the possibility that some magical weirdo is skulking around in your closet like a creepy loser.” 

“I don’t think it’s an invisible wizard,” he assured her. “Just keep your clothes in your bag though, so it doesn’t happen again.”

Dipper, Mabel, and Waddles left the room and went back downstairs so Crystal could change. Mabel tossed him a backpack she had left in the corner. “Grunkle Stan gave us some fireworks. He said they were surplus inventory or something. I put your share in this bag for you, along with a lighter so you don’t get chocolate stains on your nice shirt.” She blew a raspberry. “Oh, and I Mabel-ized your M-9000. It’s a glitter bomb now.”

‘Thanks, Mabel.” Dipper grinned, looking in the bag. “We’ll have some fun with these.” He grabbed a blanket and stuffed it in too.

Mabel winked at him in return. “No prob, Bro-bro.”

Dipper changed into his wrinkled, blue dress pants and an equally wrinkled, white button down shirt. He borrowed a Mystery Shack novelty necktie from the gift shop, which Mabel helped him tie on.

Crystal came down the stairs in a modest light blue sundress with pink and yellow flowers printed on it. 

Dipper’s eyes lit up. “Wow! You look great!”

“Thanks!” She smiled back at him. “I just got it for this trip.”

“I smell a scrapbook-ortunity!” Mabel pulled her phone out. 

Dipper rolled his eyes. “It’s not like we’re going to prom.” But he didn’t resist when she made them pose at the front door so she could take pictures with all three of their phone cameras.

* * *

The ma î tre d’ at The Club showed Dipper and Crystal to a small table overlooking Lake Gravity Falls. They sat in the large plush chairs on either side of it and looked out the window. A waiter placed a basket of breadsticks between them.

“It’s actually really beautiful here,” Crystal said, admiring the scenery. “I see why you like it.”

“I can ask if Soos will let us borrow the Mystery Cart tomorrow. I know a trail we can take to the top of that waterfall.” Dipper pointed to the one pouring into the lake.

“That sounds nice.” Her eyes lit up as she remembered something. “By the way, a lady on the bus with a weird eye named Susan invited us to some place called Greasy’s for free pancakes in the morning.”

“Her weird eye is named Susan?” He joked as he grabbed a breadstick and bit the end off.

“No, Mason.” Crystal laughed.

“Yeah, that must be Lazy Susan. They have good pancakes there. We should take her up on that before we hit the trail,” Dipper replied while chewing a bite of his breadstick. They saw the waiter headed their way and paused to read their menus.

“I’ll have the Queen of Spades.” Crystal pointed to a picture of a grilled chicken fillet on her menu when the waiter arrived. “And a side salad with balsamic vinaigrette.”

“And I’ll have the One-eyed Jack,” Dipper ordered a cheap cut of steak smothered in cheese and mushrooms. “And onion rings on the side.”

The waiter hesitated for a moment. “And to drink?”

“Pitt Cola, my good man.” Dipper nodded.

“What’s that?” asked Crystal.

“It’s this peach-flavored soda brand they only have around here, and it’s usually the  _ only _ kind of soda they have around here,” Dipper explained.

“Is it good?” 

He shrugged indifferently. “You get used to it.” 

“I’ll just have water,” Crystal told the waiter who left with their order. She picked up a breadstick and used it to shield her mouth. “Don’t look, but I think some family behind you is glaring at us.”

“Why did you tell me if I can’t look?” Dipper asked quizzically.

She sighed. “Okay, fine. Look, but try not to be obvious about it.”

He subtly glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, it’s Pacifica!” He turned in his chair, smiled, and waved at her. Pacifica gave him a small wave with her fingers while her parents glared daggers at him.

“So much for not being obvious.” Crystal rolled her eyes. “She’s the one whose house you burned down, right? You didn’t tell me she was beautiful.”

“Well...I mean...um,” he stuttered. “I guess...she is. She’s just a friend, I promise.” He pointed the breadstick at Crystal. “Oh, remember how I told you about the guy who was trying to claim all the forests in the valley and we found his great grandmother’s lost will and beat him in court? That’s her dad; he hates our guts. She’s pretty cool though.”

Crystal glanced back at the other table. “Then why is she glaring too?”

Dipper shrugged. “She kind of has this resting glare face sometimes,” —he drew an imaginary oval around his own face with his breadstick— “Well, most of the time.” He looked back again and Pacifica gave him a faint smile.

A waiter brought out their soup course on a large tray. As he approached their table the tray suddenly tipped, spilling the contents of both bowls into Crystal’s lap.

“Augh!” she yelped. “It’s hot! It’s hot!” The entire restaurant stopped eating and turned to look at her.

The ma î tre d’ rushed over to them with a stack of fresh cloth napkins. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know how this happened. Please allow me to comp your meal.”

“Oh, no.” Dipper was about to decline when Crystal gave him a sharp look. “Uh, yes. That would be nice. Thank you.”

“Clumsy waiter.” She cursed under her breath after the commotion died down.

He looked at the stain on her dress thoughtfully. “I don’t think it was an accident.” 

Crystal glanced around the room. “You think he did that on purpose? Do you think your friend’s parents bribed him?” 

“No, I mean, it looked like the tray was knocked over.” He mimicked the way it fell with his hand.

“But there was no one else standing there,” she pointed out.

Dipper shrugged. “I don’t know. It just seemed weird to me.” 

“Don’t say ‘weird’. I’m done with ‘weird’!” Crystal slapped the top of the table a little too forcefully and the other patrons looked at them again.

The rest of the meal was uneventful, although the waiter was annoyingly attentive after the soup incident. They ate cheesecake for dessert and reminisced about things they had done before Dipper had left for Gravity Falls. Afterwards they walked slowly down to the lake.

* * *

An hour before the fireworks were set to start, Dipper and Crystal arrived at the shore of the lake where almost everyone in town had gathered on blankets and lawn chairs. There were also dozens of boats in the water, all ready for the celebratory fireworks. The couple climbed a low hill on the edge of the lake with a good view and spread their blanket in the middle of a grassy clearing with a few clumps of boulders and some bushes; they had it all to themselves. They sat down together and Dipper put his arm around her.

“Now this is wonderful. This is what I came up here for,” Crystal smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.

“It is nice.” He sighed contently. “I missed you a lot.”

“I missed you too, Mason.” She smooched his cheek affectionately.

“The show’s going to start soon. They’ll light the fireworks off from Scuttlebutt Island, the big one in the middle of the lake.” Dipper scanned the crowds gathered below. “Oh, man. See that big boat with all the satellite dishes and antennas? That’s the Stan o’ War. Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford must have launched her to watch fireworks after we left. I think I can see them! And Soos and Melody. I don’t see Mabel. Maybe she’s off with her friends somewhere.”

“Would you rather be down there with them or up here with me?” Crystal smiled flirtatiously and kissed the side of his neck where it met his collarbone. 

He gasped at the provocative sensation and returned her smile. “Definitely up here. Mabel gave me some fireworks to shoot off, but do you want to make out instead?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” She turned around to face him, kneeling, and put her arms over his shoulders. He pulled her close. They shared a tender kiss, then another more powerfully, relieving over a month’s pent up longing.

A stream of blue light launched from the edge of the clearing and arced overhead. It struck a boulder a few feet from the kissing couple, showering them with stinging shards of stone.

Dipper rolled away and jumped up before pulling Crystal to her feet. He grabbed the backpack and they ran behind a pile of boulders uphill from their blanket.

“Is someone shooting fireworks at us!?” Crystal asked incredulously.

He peeked over a boulder cautiously. “I have no idea.” Another stream of light came hurtling at them and he ducked back down just in time. “I think I saw where it came from.”

Crystal pulled his arm. “We should run!” 

“No, we have an elevation advantage,” Dipper said confidently. He fished around in the backpack with one hand and pulled out a firework that looked like a tiny stick of dynamite wrapped in bags of glitter and duct tape. Mabel had scrawled ‘Glitter Bomb - Point Away From Face’ on the side in marker. He stuck his hand in again and found the lighter. He poked his head over the top of the boulder, provoking another attack, then ducked at the last second. He was certain then that he knew where it came from. He lit the fuse and threw the bomb at the spot behind a bush at the edge of the clearing.

The bush exploded in a cloud of sparkling glitter. They heard some people Ooh-ing and Aah-ing from down by the lake. The cloud of glitter settled to reveal a transparent humanoid shape shielding its face with its hands, covered in glitter behind the bush.

Dipper glanced over the rock again which resulted in another blast.

“Who is it?” Crystal was not the sort of girl who peeks at assailants over the top of boulder piles.

“Invisible wizard?” 

She scowled at him in disgust. “Ugh. I thought you didn’t believe in that!” 

“That was before an opacity-deficient person with a pointy hat started shooting blue sparks at us with a stick. Invisible wizard is my leading theory!” Dipper replied tersely.

The town’s fireworks show began as columns of sparkling lights raced into the sky.

“We should get out of here!” Crystal implored again. “Maybe they won’t see us.”

“Not while I’ve got bottle rockets!” Dipper smirked defiantly. He pulled them all out in a bundle and wound the fuses together. Then he lit them and set them on top of the boulder. A second later they went shrieking away in chaos, with a few duds left on the rock to be blown away by the next magical counterattack. “Stupid junk fireworks.”

Dipper looked in the backpack and pulled a large mortar out of it. “This is the last one. If it doesn’t work, we run.” He lit the fuse and stood up, pointing it at the wizard-y shape behind the bush. The fuse burned down to the cylinder and nothing happened. “Another dud.” He was knocked off his feet by a glancing hit from the attacker.

“Mason! Mason, are you okay?” Crystal tried to pull him back behind the rocks. “Mason, we need to run! That thing is coming towards us!”

Dipper rolled to his feet and yelled through gritted teeth, “I’m fine!” He threw the mortar like a grenade at the advancing figure. The makeshift bomb hit the ground at its feet, compressing and igniting the unstable chemicals inside and it exploded. The figure glittered in the light from the mortar’s fluorescence as it was blown back.

Dipper was already hurdling over the boulders. He covered the distance to the enemy in three bounds and fell upon them with his fists ready. The attacker, sensing that it had lost, grasped its wand with both hands, whispered something, and vanished with a flash of light.

Dipper crawled around on his hands and knees. “I need to find a clue! Was that actually an invisible wizard?”

“I don’t care who or what the heck that thing was!” Crystal scrambled over the rocks in a rage. 

He pulled a thread from the now-glittery bush and held it up to look at it. “Why did they attack us?”

“We should not be getting randomly attacked by invisible people! This place makes no sense!” Crystal yelled at him.

He stopped and pondered. “Maybe they were offended by what you said about skulking around like a creepy loser.” 

Crystal stood in front of him to get his attention. “Mason! I am going back to the bus station and I am getting on the next bus back home. And you are coming with me!” Each syllable was spat through clenched teeth.

Dipper climbed to his feet. “ _ What _ !?” He couldn’t believe what she was suggesting.

She glared at him. “You heard me!”

He shook his head seriously. “No way. I know this place is really weird and it can be dangerous. And it’s a little unpredictable. But Gravity Falls is important to me. It’s a part of my life.”

“I don’t want this place to be a part of  _ my _ life, Mason!” Crystal pointed at herself, tearing up.

“Then maybe  _ I _ shouldn’t be a part of your life either,” Dipper snapped angrily. “And stop calling me ‘Mason’! It may be on my birth certificate, but it is not my name!”

She glared at him and slowly made an ultimatum, trembling with rage while tears glittered on her cheeks. “Fine, Dipper. If you don’t go back to the bus station with me right now so we can go home, then we are over.”

“Fine.” He sat down on a boulder and stared at her defiantly. Crystal hesitated for only a second then stormed off in the direction of town. He didn’t say anything or try to stop her. As soon as she was gone he sighed, hung his head, and wept under the grande finale of the pyrotechnics display.

Be sure to read the next adventure:

No Pancakes


End file.
